Her voice held a hope she herself had not fully recognized, along with a fear of being rejected.
Greg paused, then chuckled.
He reached out, instinctively intending to ruffle her hair, but halfway there, he realized the gesture might be inappropriate. He casually withdrew his hand and slipped it back into his pocket.
He flashed a slightly roguish smile and said:
"Mind? How could I! Yelina, you really underestimate me. Sometimes, gossip about a man is the perfect badge of his charm and worth! Getting people talking because a cute upperclassman gives me special attention? For a guy like me, that's practically a dream come true!"
His teasing words were half sincere, half joking, but he really did not care much.
Reputation?
That was one of the most worthless things he had right now.
Then Greg rubbed his chin with one hand, putting on a thoughtful expression as his tone turned a little peculiar.
"Although I'm not Catholic myself, and I don't have any weird thing for little girls... since you only got caught up in these rumors because you were helping me, Yelina..."
He paused and looked at Yelina, a half-joking, half-serious gleam in his amber eyes as his lips curved into a slightly wicked smile.
"When it really matters, I'll take the appropriate responsibility, just like a true gentleman. You can rest assured of that."
"Catholic? A thing for little girls? Take responsibility...?"
Greg's string of utterly baffling terms and remarks left Yelina dizzy, her round face filling with even greater confusion and bewilderment.
She blinked her large eyes, trying to understand what Greg meant, but clearly failed.
What... was Greg even talking about?
I don't understand any of it... but somehow, it doesn't sound very proper...
Just as Yelina's brain CPU overloaded from processing all that strange